I watched Book 1 and Book 2 last night. Oh. My. Word! These are phenomenal. Absolutely fantastic work, and does exactly what I was hoping for; to blend BoBF & Mando perfectly.
I love the restructuring to the first part of Mando’s story, the arc between retrieving Grogu, handing him off and then rescuing him after the prison break works so well! The flashback work is inspired and perfectly reflects the parallels in their histories. The only cut that felt a little awkward to me was Kuill collecting IG-11. It’s a very short sequence that felt a bit out of left-field when I was refocused on Din after the prison break. Chronologically it makes sense where it is now, but thematically maybe it should follow on from the farewell on Arvala before cutting away to Din on Nevarro? Or maybe something of a post-credits thing? I’m honestly not sure exactly where I’d put it, but I just wanted to be honest with you on that one.
While Book 1 is practically perfection, Book 2 is even better in my opinion. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about so much of Sorgan being cut, but it’s absolutely spot on! The two series are beautifully blended together and the feeling that they’re ships in the night is great. Boba’s characterisation is much closer to what you’d expect from the character, brilliant stuff. I’ll be honest, I did miss the rite-of-passage making the gaffi stick, but completely understand why it’s been cut to maintain the characterisation and pacing; the lizard trip was a bit strange in the original material, and it’s hard to see a way to keep the rite and keep it all thematically sound.
I’m really stoked to see what comes in Book 3 and beyond. I’ve enjoyed Mando Season 3 overall so far, but I was also concerned about how some of the content would fit into a cut like this. Watching the new episode last night has definitely grounded it all a bit for me, and I’m really interested to see how you blend the new content. Overall this has definitely become my definitive way to watch this content on repeat, and it’ll only be new season releases that I watch through D+.